A Newcastle university student has been given a 240 hours community service for sending racist tweets to the former footballer Stan Collymore.

Joshua Cryer who studies law at Newcastle University sent the tweets over a seven day period earlier this year.

He boasted of having found a new hobby and tried to cover it up by telling police his Twitter account had been hacked. A judge at Newcastle magistrates described his behaviour as foolish, immature and pathetic.

He decided against sending him to jail because he said he wanted him to remember what he had done "for a long time". The community service will last for a duration of up to two years.